Aggregated Electrical Power Offer Optimization

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing smart electrical networks face challenges in efficiently managing and balancing electricity production and consumption across customer sites, as individual processing of variable capacity sites is costly and complex, requiring an aggregation platform to offer a significant and optimized supply of electrical energy.

Innovation Solution

A method and device for aggregating electrical energy offers from multiple customer sites, using a spatial filling optimization technique to determine an efficient and optimized aggregate supply, minimizing energy deficits by grouping elementary power offers based on forecasts of consumption and production.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If individual processing of electrical energy offers from customer sites is performed, then each customer site can be managed separately, but the processing cost and complexity increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveIndividual customer site management flexibilityVSAvoidProcessing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple individual customer site offers into a single aggregated offer by combining elementary blocks of power and duration from multiple sites. This aggregation platform consolidates the processing of numerous small-scale variable capacity sites into one unified offer, reducing overall processing complexity while maintaining the ability to manage individual sites separately through the standardized block structure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Productivity

If aggregation platform is introduced to combine offers from multiple customer sites, then processing efficiency improves, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveOffer processing efficiencyVSAvoidAggregation platform complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments electrical energy offers into standardized elementary blocks defined by discrete power levels and duration intervals. This segmentation allows the aggregation platform to process offers through systematic operations (combining blocks with same power, selecting optimal duration) rather than handling continuous variable data, thereby improving processing efficiency while keeping the platform structure relatively simple and manageable.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

3Measurement precision

If variable capacity customer sites are processed individually, then accurate representation of each site is achieved, but time and resource consumption increase

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveCustomer site capacity representation accuracyVSAvoidProcessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent transforms the continuous variable parameters of customer site capacity into discrete standardized blocks of power and duration. This parameter change from continuous to discrete values maintains sufficient accuracy for aggregation purposes while enabling rapid processing through standardized operations, significantly reducing the time and resources required compared to processing continuous variable data individually.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentEP3091629B1Method and device for providing an aggregated offer for electric power
Publication Date: 2019.03.06 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC IND SAS
  • EP3091629B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3091629B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3091629B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The invention relates to a method and device for supplying aggregated electrical power offers from a plurality of loads and/or sources at customer sites on an electrical network. The method comprises receiving information relating to the electrical power supply from the loads and/or sources at each customer site, and determining (34) elementary blocks of electrical power, each elementary block being defined in two dimensions by a duration and an electrical power. These steps are followed by a spatial arrangement (36, 38) of elementary blocks to obtain an aggregate block defined by an electrical power and a duration that respects a constraint selected from a setpoint power or a setpoint duration. The spatial arrangement step implements (40) a method for optimizing the spatial filling of a block, defined by a maximum power and a maximum duration, with elementary blocks.